“Is This The Hardest Block Ever?!”: 38 Y/o Michael Jordan’s Brilliance Against The Bulls Has Lakers Legend Questioning The Greatness Of A Single Play

Watching Michael Jordan play in a Washington Wizards jersey was a surreal sight for most fans around the world. But MJ still had that magic in him that coined the name, Air Jordan, leading former Los Angeles Lakers star Lamar Odom to add a defensive stop by Mike into the ‘greatest blocks in NBA history’ debate, asking

“Is this the hardest block ever?!? Thoughts?”

 

Is this the hardest block ever?!? Thoughts? https://t.co/ld2b7T67hr

— LAMAR ODOM (@LamarOdom) January 5, 2024

During the 2001-02 NBA season, Michael Jordan came out of retirement for the 2nd time and suited up for the Washington Wizards instead of the Chicago Bulls. In the first game against his former team, MJ had a game-defining block on Ron Mercer that may have sealed the fate of that matchup.

After getting blocked by Ron Artest on the offense, Michael Jordan turned on the jets to make his presence felt on the defensive end of the floor. Jordan rushed down for a chase-down block and ended up denying Mercer’s shot with both hands.

Not only did MJ block the shot, stopping the ball against the backboard but he even grabbed onto it to save the possession. To add insult to injury, Mike stared down Mercer as he walked up the floor on offense once again.

At 38 years of age, Michael Jordan led the team with his 29-point performance pairing it with 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks for the game. The Wizards capped off the game with an 89-83 win over the Bulls.

Only a month shy of turning 39, Michael Jordan’s block may have been one of those sleeper plays that went unnoticed, leading Lamar Odom to highlight that play once again. However, going into Odom’s inquiry, was that the greatest block ever given how many other candidates there are for that title?

Numerous other plays pulled off by Hall of Famers and current players must be taken into consideration before coming to a decision. For instance, LeBron James’ chase-down block on Andre Iguodala or probably even Nate Robinson’s block on Yao Ming or Shaquille O’Neal for instance.

What made Michael Jordan jump out of his sneakers?

Michael Jordan’s block and steal on Ron Mercer became so iconic that Nike went ahead and used it in one of Vince Carter’s videos. But how did MJ manage to pull that off you ask? Well, it was one of those times when ‘Black Jesus’ ended up losing his cool.

According to BallIsLife, when talking about that block, Jordan said, “It was one of those situations where anger kind of gave me a little more energy to go up and get the block.” And with Bulls GM Jerry Krause in attendance, you could be sure that MJ was going to take over the game.

Michael Jordan is widely regarded as one of the best scorers in NBA history. His ability to take over the game in a matter of minutes and dominate is something that most NBA fans know him by.

But that should not take away from his defensive prowess. MJ was a menace on defense, stealing & deflecting balls and downright rejecting shots as well. Throughout his career, Jordan has had 893 blocks, making him the leader in all-time block shots by a shooting guard.